MG Fiction

Fridays Featuring Flintridge: Find Your Child’s Next Favorite Book Here!

An Insider’s Guide to Getting Your Kids
to Become Passionate Page Turners

Welcome to an exciting new feature we’ll be offering every other Friday at Good Reads With Ronna, Fridays Featuring Flintridge. This insider’s look at great books for kids and teens is brought to us by professional children’s book buyer, Catherine Linka. She’ll present her recommended reads in themes and today’s theme is a rather dreamy one. Read more about Catherine below and see her suggestions for this summer. We’re sure you’ll soon understand why we value her opinions and why we’re so delighted she’s on board!

About Catherine

Catherine Linka is the Children’s and Teen Book Buyer for the Flintridge Bookstore in Southern California. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and blogs about writing at ThroughtheTollbooth.com.  Catherine also leads two groups of young book reviewers, elementary school and teens. Her book recommendations are books she respects and those her young reviewers loved.

Raising an Enthusiastic Reader –a message from Catherine Linka

– You want your child to grow up to be successful and independent and you know that being a good reader is crucial for their success.

– There are two parts to being a good reader. First, a child has to learn the technical skills of “decoding” text–of learning the relationship between letters, sounds, and the meaning of words.

– Second, a child has to want to read–to be excited about it, and to find it satisfying. Unless a child is motivated to read, they won’t advance. 

– Decoding is the job of your child’s teacher. But your job is better–to build your child’s love of reading.

– The books I picked for this blog are ones that kids I work with loved. These are books they held up and said, “This is the best book I’ve ever read.” I hope your child will find a book they love.

RECOMMENDED READING STARTS HERE! 

Books for Dreamy Girls who love to sit in the shade with a book for company. 

JUNONIA by Kevin Henkes ($6.99, Harper Collins Children’s Books)

Now in paperback, this lovely story of a girl who goes to Florida every year with her family only to find that this year, things are different. A perfect book to reassure a child that things change, but change can be OK. (8+)

THE SECRET TREE by Natalie Sandiford ($16.99, Scholastic Press)

This reminded me of BECAUSE OF WINN DIXIE. Set in a woodsy neighborhood, everyone writes their secrets on slips of paper and leaves them in a hollow tree, hoping their pain will be absolved. Two friends do what they can to help their neighbors heal. (9+)

 

REMARKABLE by Elizabeth Foley ($16.99, Dial Books For Young Readers)

The book for little girls who don’t see themselves as special, but who hunger to be. In this story, Jane is the only child in the town of Remarkable who is plain and unremarkable. But Jane becomes the hero when three unpleasant characters come to down. The fifth and sixth graders in my Advance Readers club LOVED this book. (8+)

THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND by Catherynne M.Valente ($6.99, Macmillan/Square Fish)

Think ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Sophisticated, gorgeous, playful and ironic language and a perfect read aloud for 10+. Now in paperback. Sequel is coming.

KAT, INCORRIGIBLE   ($6.99, Atheneum Books For Young Readers)

Fun and funny fantasy set in England in the 1800s. Kat doesn’t want her older sisters to have to get married,
so she uses magic to mess up her stepmother’s plans. A little flavor of Jane Austen. Very sweet. Now in paperback. 10+.

SPARROW ROAD by Sheila O’Connor ($6.99, Penguin)

Now in paperback. A sensitive portrait of a 12 year old girl trying to figure herself out over a summer when her mother goes
to work at an artist colony. A tender, beautiful story. (10+)

Please visit the Flintridge Bookstore today to pick up your copy of these great books, buy gifts, enjoy their extension selection of other great reads  and relax over a great cup of coffee.  Also visit the website at www.flintridgebooks.com to keep up-to-date with story times author events and other exciting special events.

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Mouse Gone Missing

My 11-year-old son Coleman has always been a voracious reader. The past few months he’s devoured some interesting middle grade books and I’ll be sharing some of his thoughts on what he’s read and loved.  The good news is that he’s discovered a slew of great books in all sorts of genres by a variety of very talented authors. We’ll begin our conversation by discussing a new series called The Song of the Winns and the first book in the Gerander trilogy is entitled The Secret of The Ginger Mice ($12.95, Running Press, ages 8 and up) by Frances Watts with illustrations by David Francis.   – Chosen as a Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book 2011

 Q. In a nutshell, if you described this book to friends, what would you tell them it was about?

 A. I’d have to say this book is part mystery, part adventure about mice triplets. When Alice and Alex, two of the triplets discover their other brother has gone missing, Alice and Alex set out on a journey to find Alistair (a ginger mouse unlike the other two) and learn why he has possibly been mousenapped.

 Q. Where do the mice live in the story?

A. They live in a country called Shetlock which borders a country in turmoil called Gerander. Another nearby country called Souris is trying to take over Gerander.

Q. Tell us something about the triplets. What are they like, what challenges do they face trying to locate Alistair?

A. Alex and Alice are very adventurous yet Alistair is the type who would rather sit on a chair, snuggle with his scarf and read a book.  The two siblings face many obstacles during their exploits like Alex eating all the food on the first day of the journey, encounters with two-faced spies, and being locked in a cellar with almost no way out. 

Q. How do the struggles in Gerander affect the triplets?

A. Semi-Spoiler Alert:  Most of the ginger mice come from Gerander, and Souris wants to eliminate all of the ginger mice no matter where they are from so it will be easier to invade and conquer Gerander. As it happens Alistair was mousenapped by FIG, a pro-Gerander secret organization, in order to keep him safe from Souris mousenappers and spies. So all the time Alice and Alex are worried, Alistair is actually safe.  It’s when Alistair tries to escape to go home that his real problems begin.

Q. What did you enjoy most about this book?

A. It’s so hard to pinpoint one thing that I liked because there were so many things in the story I found enjoyable.  I cared about the mice and felt how they did. I thought the story idea was clever and it kept me turning the pages to see what crazy things Alistair was going to get up to, unlike how he usually behaved. The setting was quite realistic and it was easy getting caught up in the story.

Q. How did you feel when you finished the book?

A. At the end I was like, “No, give me more!” I did not want the book to end.

Q. Who would like The Secret of The Ginger Mice?

A. Anyone who can read well and likes adventure books with lots of surprises would find this a terrific book. In other words probably 3rd through 5th graders, or kids even younger if their parents read it to them. I can’t wait for book #2.

 

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One Wedding and a Meltdown

Ask Amy Green: Bridesmaid Blitz by Sarah Webb ($6.99, Candlewick, ages 11 and up) is a quick-paced, light reading “romp” through the 13- year-old Dubliner Amy Green’s fall school year.  As this is Ireland, the school structure is different, but the same girl clicks and teen dreams are all there. Filled with zany characters, Dublin-ese teen lingo (Fun and Funny!) and a positive view of contemporary family structures – Amy has strong bonds with devoted, divorced parents, half-siblings, and supportive cousin role models and godmothers.  She has tricky relationships to build with both of her parents’ significant others.  Webb provides an enticing glimpse at Paris as Amy and company travel there on a surprise shopping trip for Amy’s bride-to-be mother (hence, the title) for Amy’s mother.  The quaint Parisian side streets, delicious boulangerie aromas and alluring fashion boutiques are all there for the tasting!  Bridesmaid Blitz is a series that any tween thru teen would love to explore! Start with Bridesmaid Blitz or one of Webb’s funky “Ask Amy” titles in the series – Boy Trouble or Summer Secrets.

Ask Amy Green: Bridesmaid Blitz was reviewed by guest reviewer Dr. Juli Barry from Los Angeles. Dr. Barry has her PhD in 20th century American fiction.

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